


A Frayed Cord

by Purrfecktnerd



Series: Cheer up the Skeleton Week! Fluff for ALL! <3 [6]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, DEFINITE SPOILERS, Fluff, Post-Pacifist Route, The Machine - Freeform, Time Travel, hard decisions, just a little angst though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 03:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5989738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purrfecktnerd/pseuds/Purrfecktnerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans revisits his lab to do a final cleanup. </p><p>Part of the #cheeruptheskeleton tag on Tumblr, Day 6: The Machine Works</p><p>I have a tumblr account, for any interested. http://purrfecktnerd.tumblr.com</p><p>Minor adjustments made 2/17/16 for flow/grammer/and general crappy spelling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Frayed Cord

A few months after they moved out, Sans returned to Snowdin.

Papyrus didn't know of course. He had told his brother he was stepping out to run some errands and that had been enough to satisfy any curiosity. Not a lie, but he didn't want to have to go through the bother of explaining why he was returning to their old home. If Papyrus had known, there would be questions on questions, and he would want to come along. Sans needed to do this on his own.

One shortcut later and Sans stepped onto their old front lawn. He looked up at the empty house. It felt so different already. The holiday lights on the outside of the house had been stripped off, and all signs of being lived in had been removed from the old house. Sans adjusted his grip on the bag of supplies he had brought with him and circled around to the rear of the home, where a narrow set of steps led down to a basement door. Juggling the bag to his other hand, he fished in his pocket and retrieved the key. It was small and silver and the top was molded in the shape of a smiling skull, a skeleton key, if you will. Sans had thought that quite the hilarious little joke when he had it made. Only one other person knew about the key, really. But hey, some jokes you make for your own amusement.

He unlocked the door and entered, flipping on the lights. The small lab was exactly as he left it, though there was a light layer of dust coating most of the equipment and boxes. He set his stuff on the lopsided card table standing next to the instrument panel. He never had gotten around to fixing the leg on that thing. He turned and surveyed what was ahead of him, looking over the scattered papers, file boxes and general clutter that seemed to occupy any space Sans used as his own.

Unlike his brother, Papyrus, who was always neat and tidy, Sans was a natural clutter bug. And he liked it that way. He preferred his personal space to look "lived in" and couldn't settle down to relax or think when things were too clean or sterile. But today was the day. After building himself up to it for the past few months, he was finally ready.

He had decided to clean this place out.

"heh. well, time to get to work, i guess." He muttered to himself, shedding his hoodie and retrieving the cleaning supplies from the bag. 

He spent the next few hours cleaning and organizing. He kept the important documents, sorting them into organized stacks in boxes by the door. Anything he didn't plan to take with him was taken into the backyard and thoroughly burned. He even dusted off the equipment and gave the tiled floor a good once over with broom and mop. He then covered the computer equipment with tarps to keep the dust off. 

He pointedly ignored the shrouded machinery in the far corner of the lab. He didn't like to look at it. He did, however, gather any of the usable pieces and spare parts surrounding it into another box, planning to take it back with him. 

He finally finished the last few chores and stood back to survey his work. "heh. good thing Paps doesn't know i can clean like this. can't have him expecting me to do this all the time." Sans chuckled to himself. "welp, time to shift this stuff out of here."

He naturally targeted the box furthest away from the door first, the one full of spare parts and miscellaneous equipment at the far end of the small lab. He had found more than he had expected and the box was a little overfilled, but Sans was confident he could handle it. He squatted down next the the box...1...2...3...and UP! In one sudden motion, he lifted the box in his arms.

He stood there for a moment, satisfied that he had everything in hand, until he realized he didn't. The box was heavy, A LOT heavier than he had anticipated, which he only realized as he slowly lost his balance and began to lean backwards awkwardly. 

He fought back, taking a few skipping steps backwards before he lost both the fight and his grip on the box altogether, falling back hard into the veiled machine standing behind him. The weight of Sans' body combined with the box caused the machine to slide back half an inch, slamming solidly into the wall behind it. There was a loud crashing and clattering as the heavy box hit the floor, tipping its contents out onto the tiles.

Sans landed on the floor with his back against the side of the machine. He had hit his head against it on the way down and his ears were ringing, stunned from the fall. It took a few minutes for him to recover before he could take stock.

He slowly stood up.

"hell. that's going to smart tomorrow" he rubbed at the back of his head with one hand and his bruised tailbone with the other. "not one of my smarter decisions." the ringing in his head was starting to die down, replaced by a steady hum. It took him another moment or two before he realized that the hum wasn't coming from the inside of his head. It was coming from directly behind him.

"what?" He turned around, surprised. 

It was coming from the equipment underneath the tarp. Sans froze, then slowly began to shake, the pinpricks of light that were his eyes fading to black. NO. WAY.

As though to convince himself otherwise, he removed the tarp with trembling hands to reveal the machine. It was running. He looked over it more closely, expert eyes checking all the lights and readouts on the control panel...it was WORKING. 

Sans needed to sit down, so he wandered over to the one desk chair in the room and obliged himself. He sat there for a long while, elbows on his knees and face cradled in his palms as he tried to process what had happened. 

"heh...heheh....heheheheheheheheh...." he laughed. It wasn't his usual laugh, it was a choked, broken laugh filled with irony. Who'd have thought. All the years, the tinkering and research...the desperation. And the damned thing had just needed a good solid whack. What was it called? Impact calibration? Yeah, right...

He finally managed to get himself under control and considered the machine again. He felt a thrill of happiness. This was it! Now he could go back! He could save them...save HIM.

Papyrus had been so young at the time, so not remembering hadn't affected him as much. Not quite so many blanks to wonder about. Papyrus was the fortunate one.

Technically, Sans didn't remember him either, his mind drew a blank every time. But he'd noticed those dark spaces and gaps in his earliest recollections. Lost memories of a third person, ever present in his early life, but somehow missing. All Sans had were the notes and records documenting who he was...the accident...how he was now scattered and blown across time lines like dust in the wind. Always aware but not existing.

Despite not being able to remember, Sans still had the feeling in the pit of his soul. He may have forgotten that person in his mind, but somehow his heart remembered and longed to be able to see that person. He wanted to be told that they were proud of him, that he'd done a good job. He also wanted to show him how Papyrus had grown and how amazingly cool he was. So much lost time for a shadow in his memory.

But now that would change! He could go back! Prevent the accident! He could turn back time, just like Frisk could.

Just like Frisk could.....

The implications of that thought hit him and filled him with a new sense of dread. His hand went to his forehead "oh, geez."

Frisk. Frisk had reset so many times, for reasons they still didn't want to fully discuss. Again, there were no memories...just shadows and feelings of deja-vu from previous lost time lines. Unremembered nightmares of death and dust, or dreams of sunlight and warmth snatched away. Regardless of the forgetting, however, it was like his soul could feel them, the weight of those many time lines compounding one on top of the other, emphasizing the futility of every action taken, slowly causing him to give up.

The reports had also shown the strain of these many resets. It was as though time was a rope being twisted in the wrong direction, strands of time fraying and separating into a million strands, each their own separate entities, each threatening to snap. Eventually the whole rope would break. He had fought so hard to prevent that. They all had.

He was so relieved when he had finally confronted Frisk about it about a month after they had left The Underground. The kid had actually cried, apologizing to Sans profusely, saying they didn't understand the pain they'd caused or the possible consequences. Sans could never handle crying well, and he really did like the kid, so he had forgiven them, comforting them with a hug.

"it's okay, kiddo. as long as you understand now."

Then they had said the words Sans had been waiting for all that time, the reassurance he needed.

"No more resets. Never again."

And here he was, contemplating doing the very same thing. 

You can't change time without consequences. One small change has an ever larger ripple of effect on the future. If he prevented that accident, everything would change. Maybe he wouldn't have had to raise his brother on his own, and maybe he would not have had to struggle with being the only one aware...

But would he have met Toriel? Frisk? Would he have become as close to his friends as he was now, brought together as they were by this one small child who literally fell into their lives one day? Would they still have gotten free of the barrier, or would they still be trapped in the Underground, slowly losing hope? And if all of this changed, would Sans still be the same person he was now? In the recent months since Frisk's promise, Sans had slowly begun to become more comfortable about who he was and where he was at in life. 

And now would he give all that up and possibly ruin it for everyone else? All for his own selfish wish?

He couldn't do it. 

It wouldn't be fair. Not to everyone else. Not even to himself.

Sans got up and moved to shut the machine down. His hand hovered over the Shutoff switch, still conflicted. If he shut this thing off, it may never start again. This really could be his last chance.

Then he had a thought.

He remembered the last time he had run a report on the time lines.It was shortly before he had decided to come out here, and was actually the deciding factor behind cleaning out his lab. He had visited Alphys' new lab to run the tests, and the results had been amazing. 

The time lines were healing themselves. The rope could be twisted in both directions. When Frisk stopped resetting, all those strands, the ones that had not yet snapped were re-converging and twisting back up together to consolidate into one TRUE time line, their own.

And maybe as this healing took place, the time line may not be the only thing to come back together...that which was scattered might once again be gathered up as well.

But it could take a long time. A very long time.

But if there was a chance, there would need to be a way to get back...

He made his decision. He left the machine on. Grabbing a piece of paper, he scrawled a short note, only two words..."We're Free"...and an address and laid it on the card table, weighing it down with the small skeleton key. After all, He wouldn't need it anymore, but maybe someone else would...one day.

He cleared out the rest of the boxes before stepping through a shortcut to get back home. He made sure to leave the lights on.

******************************

Time passed.

It was a cold winter night, and the snow flew outside. Since the weather kept them in most of the day, Papyrus had come up with the idea of having a movie night. Sans had recently shown him the wonder of streaming movies off of the internet and they had chosen a few gems to marathon. Papyrus had made his spaghetti for dinner, and it was actually pretty good. Since they had come up to the surface he had greatly improved in his cooking skills, especially once he found out that Undyne's special brand of food preparation was more than a little out of the norm. 

After dinner, feeling full and pleasantly sleepy, they settled in on the couch to get started, popcorn and hot cocoa close at hand.

They had barely cleared the opening credits of the first movie when there was a knock at the door. Papyrus gave an irritated huff. 

"IT SEEMS WE HAVE GUESTS, BROTHER."

Sans stretched languidly, showing no inclination of getting up.

"seems that way."

Papyrus thought of something and brightened up a bit "I DID TELL UNDYNE AND ALPHYS THAT WE WERE WATCHING MOVIES TONIGHT! MAYBE THEY DECIDED TO JOIN US!" he eagerly moved to get up, nearly spilling the large bowl of popcorn in the process. Sans stopped him before he could make a mess.

"i'll get it, bro. you just sit put and keep the couch warm."

"JUST TRY TO HURRY UP, SANS" Papyrus responded with good-natured impatience.

Sans got up, putting on his pink slippers and making his way leisurely to the front door. The knock sounded again.

" i'm comin', i'm comin'." he called out, just as he reached the door. He flipped the latch and swung it open wide.

"alright you nerds, you ready for a movie night you'll never...."

He stopped. He stared.

The memories flooded back.

"heh. heheh...." he laughed weakly. Tears came to his eyes. He took a deep breath and smiled wide.

"welcome home."

**Author's Note:**

> Not much to say on this one. Let me know what you think. :-D


End file.
